People who spend long periods of time resting on a surface tend to suffer pain and/or injuries on the body parts in contact with the surface. For example, activities that require kneeling on hard surfaces during prolonged periods of time can adversely affect professionals in the building, flooring and/or gardening industries.
Furthermore, people involved in leisure activities may suffer injuries from sudden impacts of a body part against a hard surface. For example, skaters/roller bladers, cyclists, runners and people involved in activities wherein an impact against a hard surface is likely, would benefit from a protective device that would mitigate the consequences of the impact. Joints are more exposed and therefore they are particularly vulnerable against this type of pain/injury.
Known body part protection devices comprise a cushioning means, normally in the form of a foam, that absorb part of the strain of the impact and/or weight of the user by deforming itself. The protection offered by of these devices is generally limited since the protective mechanism is based on the deformation of a material with limited elasticity. In the case of foams, this normally results in a permanent deformation of the foam, which is accompanied by decreased protection capability.
This problem was partially solved in GB2467646A by providing a cushioning pad comprising a network of tubular elements interconnected by ribs, which provides protection by deformation of the structure under the weight of the user. This invention presents a plurality of contact points of the device on the surface and may therefore provide stability on a static position, but that might be detrimental upon moving across a surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,220B1 also provided a body part protector with a honeycomb element for absorbing impact load sandwiched between a forward facing load spreading layer and a foam backing.
Furthermore, people who require to kneel for prolonged periods of time can suffer especially acute pain/injuries upon shifting their body weight to reach different locations within the work surface. This problem was addressed in US2008/0289073 A1 by providing a flexible knee pad comprising a knee pad cushion adapted to rotate on a flat surface contact base in order to deflect pressure away from the user's knee caps during the movement of rocking back and forth. This invention, on the other hand, may restrict the movement of sideways rotation of the user since the device can only rock back and forth, and provides a very stable base that will secure the position of the worker in one location of the work surface, but may hinder the movement across it.
The object of the present invention is to mitigate some of the problems of the prior art by providing body part protectors which comprise multiple discrete shock absorbing elements to offer superior protection to body parts than devices which comprise single shock absorbing elements, while allowing the user to move across the contact surface comfortably.